Category Archives: Beef

The recipe that I am sharing with you today is one of my most favorite of our family recipes. They’re called Gevulde Broodjes. Translated from Dutch, it means stuffed buns. It’s one of those dishes that I like to prepare because it reminds me of my most fondest childhood memories. Many years ago my Oma used to make these for my sister and I whenever we visited her home. The filling for these little rolls is the same as the filling that she used to make for her kroketten (croquettes). Kroketten is another recipe that I need to share one day soon!

Gevulde Broodjes are small fist sized dinner rolls that are hollowed out and stuffed with a warm beefy filling. They are generally served as a snack but I have also made them for lunch or even dinner. Last summer my Uncle Boebi made a large batch of these rolls to share with our family. Within a few short minutes, the Gevulde Broodjes were gone. Scarfing the rolls is probably a better word to describe what happened. That was the only time over the entire weekend with the family that there was near complete silence in the home. Silence because everyone was quietly devouring the rolls :). My family loves these little beef rolls and I hope that you do too. Enjoy! Tessa

Slice the top off of the roll…

Gently hollow out the roll. Save the crumbs for another dish…

Stuff the rolls with beef mixture and replace the top. Now they’re ready to warm up and serve!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup white onion (minced)

1 cup celery leaves and stems (minced)

2 Tbs butter

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 tsp garlic paste

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/3 cup flour (use more if needed)

2/3 cup water (use more if needed)

salt to taste

12 soft french bread dinner rolls

Melt butter in a large frying pan. Cook onions and celery on medium heat until onions are translucent, taking care not to brown the mixture. Add ground beef and mix well and cook for a few minutes until nearly done and the beef is finely crumbled. Drain any grease out of the pan. Add chicken bouillon cubes, garlic, coriander, nutmeg, and white pepper. In a separate bowl, \whisk together the flour and water until there are no lumps. Add flour mixture to beef mixture and cook for about 15 minutes, constantly stirring until the flour taste is gone. Add additional flour and water if needed. Taste and correct your seasonings and remove from heat.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Start cutting the tops off the dinner rolls and set the tops aside. Using your fingers, gently remove the center of the rolls. Be sure to leave 1/2 inch of bread on all sides of the roll. Do the same for the tops of the rolls also. Do this until each of the rolls have been hollowed out. Fill each roll with about the beef mixture and add back the tops. Place rolls in a baking pan, cover with foil and bake until warmed through. Serve with good quality yellow mustard.

I found this little gem of a recipe for Indonesian Meatballs while digging through my old ugly recipe box the other day. The recipe is from my family and I vague remember them sharing this dish years ago at family gatherings. I’ve had this recipe for Indonesian Meatballs saved for a number of years and since I had a pound of ground beef stashed in my freezer I thought I’d give it a shot. Indonesian Meatballs are made with ground beef, minced onion, garlic, nutmeg, cloves and finished with Indonesian soy sauce and fresh chopped tomato. These meatballs are moist, flavorful and tastes delish! Makes 2 dozen meatballs. Enjoy! Tessa

Meatball Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup minced onion

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

big pinch of cloves

1 slice of bread soaked in 1/4 cup milk

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1/8 tsp white pepper

2 Tbs butter for frying (or more)

garnish with thinly sliced green onions

Sauce Ingredients:

2-3 Tbs Indonesian Soy Sauce

1/2 beef bouillon cube

1 tomato chopped into large pieces

1/2 cup water

1 Tbs butter

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together all of the meatball ingredients (except butter). Roll beef mixture into 24 golf ball sized balls. If the meat is too sticky to handle add a bit of bread crumbs to the mixture. Heat a large frying pan on a medium flame and add butter. Add meatballs to the pan, careful not to let them touch. You may have to brown the meatballs in batches if your pan is too small. Once the meatballs are evenly browned, add all the meatballs back to the pan, add sauce ingredients and cover. Cook on low for about a half an hour or 45 minutes, until the tomato has cooked down. Add additional water if necessary. Taste the sauce, correct your seasonings and serve. Makes 24 little appetizers.

Years ago when my sister and I were growing up, our father would occasionally prepare dinner. He had two “signature” dishes. We either got creamed chipped beef on toast (aka S.O.S.) or Slumgullion. We did not have a choice but when we knew when he was cooking dinner we hoped and we prayed that we would get the Slumgullion.

Slumgullion is a warm, beefy, tomato based macaroni noodle stew with humble roots. Many versions of this dish have been around for seventy five plus years. You may also know this dish as American Goulash or Slumgull. This version comes from my father who grew up during the great depression in Omaha, Nebraska. His family did not have much money and this is what they often served at their dinner table during those rough times. Slumgullion is amazingly simple, tastes really good, and can be easily made with ingredients you may already have. I sometimes substitute ground bison for the beef for a leaner dish. Enjoy! Tessa

Can you believe that I started my new year without any resolutions? Nope, none, nothing, nada… I have a tough time keeping resolutions. Every year I say I have one, I am good for a few short months and then my bad habits creep right back up on me. This year is different. I decided that this year I am having “New Year’s Expectations”. Expectations, I know I can do. Expectations are attainable and having expectations is how I operate.

One of my expectations for 2012 is to be less wasteful in the kitchen. Instead of buying expensive store bought vegetable and meat stocks, I will make my own. It saves money and helps keep spoiled vegetables in the vegetable drawer of my refrigerator to a minimum. I also expect to be more creative with the use of leftovers. That also saves money and valuable refrigerator space too.

Last night I made a gorgeous prime rib roast for New Year’s Day dinner. I had a couple of pounds of the roast leftover in the refrigerator this morning. Living up to my “new” expectations, I decided to make a Cranberry Bean Chili Con Carne. My Cranberry Bean Chili Con Carne is made with leftover prime rib roast, cranberry beans, homemade beef stock (from the prime rib), onions, garlic, carrots (leftover too!), extra dark cocoa powder and fragrant spices. Top your bowl of Cranberry Bean Chili Con Carne with fresh grated cheddar cheese, green onions and red bell pepper. Makes about 2 quarts of chili or 8 servings. Enjoy! Tessa

Begin by washing, picking over and soaking the cranberry beans in a bowl of water overnight. Grab a large pot with a tight fitting lid. On medium heat saute your onion, shallots and carrots in the olive oil. Cook until onion is opaque. Add soaked cranberry beans and the remaining ingredients with the exception of the garnishes. Cook for about 4 hours on very low or until beans are cooked to your liking. Be sure to keep an eye on it and stir occasionally. Taste the chili, correct your salt level, add additional stock if needed and ladle into bowls. Garnish with shredded cheese, sliced green onions red pepper. Note: Go ahead and make this in your slow cooker. About 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

I have learned that if you really want to get to know someone, spend time with them in their kitchen. You can quickly tell if someone is detail oriented by the way their pantry is carefully arranged or by the way they perfectly chop their vegetables. You will be able to distinguish boring from an adventurous type of person by the types of ingredients they have on hand. And if you want to see if someone is truly clean and neat, check out what’s going on the fridge…

The way a cook plates his or her food also may say a lot about them. Carefully arranged dishes, lack of spill or drip marks and maybe even the simplest garnish on a plate will tell you that the person who prepared the food cares about how it will be received by the person accepting the dish. In my opinion, sloppily prepared or poorly plated food says “I’m to busy to care about you or what you eat”.

My recipe for Vermicelli Soup with Meatballs (Vermicellisoep Met Balletjes) is very similar to the dish that my Oma used to make. I knew that my Oma loved us by the care she exhibited when hand rolling the tiny uniformly shaped meatballs for her soup. Her knife skills were flawless when she thinly sliced the crunchy celery and the sweet orange carrots, and her tiny workspace was neat as a pin. When she ladled up a bowl soup for you, you would never imagine it looking and tasting anything less than perfect.

And for years, I have always wondered how in the heck did she do that?

Well, all I can do as her granddaughter is to do my best to try to follow in her footsteps, carry on our cooking traditions and document the recipes for future family members. So when I am in my kitchen I think of my Oma and I cook as though I am I telling someone that I love them. Enjoy! Tessa

Little marble sized meatballs ready to drop into the soup…

Ingredients:

Meatball Ingredients

1/2 pound good quality ground beef

2-3 slices white bread (crusts removed)

1 – 2 Tbls milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp. white pepper

Soup Ingredients

2 – 3 stalks of celery with leaves

1 white onion

3 carrots

1 tsp. butter

1 1/2 quarts good quality chicken stock

1 bouillon cube (chicken)

1/8 tsp. white pepper

1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

a few dashes Maggi seasoning (or to taste)

3 ounces dry fine vermicelli noodles

parsley and fresh ground nutmeg for garnish

Begin by making the meatballs. Start by putting the bread in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the milk to the bread and let it soak a bit . Add the ground beef, egg, salt, nutmeg and white pepper. Mix well. Grab a small bit of the beef and roll it into a ball about the size of a marble. Repeat until done. Set aside. (I know that this is time consuming but you will be happy with the end product if you keep the meatballs all similar size).

Grab a large Dutch oven or pot and place on a medium hot stove. Chop your celery, and onion finely. Thinly slice your carrots. Add butter to pot with the vegetables. Add a healthy pinch of salt and cook (stirring) until the onion is opaque and before the carrots begin to caramelize. Add the chicken stock, bouillon cube, white pepper and Maggi Seasoning. Bring to a slow boil. Drop meatballs into boiling soup. Add the vermicelli and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn down heat and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Taste the soup, correct your seasonings and add more chicken stock if needed. Ladle up. Garnish with parsley and fresh grated nutmeg. Makes about 8 servings.

I remember years ago when my family got its very first microwave oven. It was the early 1970’s and I will never forget the day when my mother attempted to make a meatloaf in it. First of all, she had never made meatloaf before and the cookbook that came with the microwave said that it could be done. She followed that recipe in the book and as a result my poor sister and I had to eat it for dinner. I honestly have to say that it was “technically” edible but it looked and tasted like a beat up hockey puck. After that experience, I swore that I would never ever eat meatloaf again… Not to mention, but that microwave cookbook deserved to be tossed.

Well, I am older, I am wiser and have learned to never say never. And, most importantly, I don’t cook meatloaf in a microwave.

My recipe for Indonesian Buffalo Meatloaf is a twist on traditional meatloaf but prepared with buffalo (bison) meat and Indonesian soy sauce and spices. If you don’t have access to ground buffalo, feel free to substitute a high quality low fat ground beef. This meatloaf is moist, flavorful and any leftovers make the BEST meatloaf sandwiches! Makes 6 servings. Enjoy! – Tessa

Meatloaf Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground buffalo

1/2 onion chopped

1 c. panko crumbs

1 egg (lightly beaten)

2 Tbls. Indonesian soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1 Tbls. garlic paste

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

3 Tbls. tomato ketchup

1/4 tsp. ground mace

1 Tbls. low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp. canola oil

Round up your ingredients. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Chop your onion and sauté in canola oil until translucent. Cool. Lightly mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Don’t be afraid to use your hand to mix. Don’t over mix it unless you like tough meatloaf. Shape into a loaf shape and put in a greased 9″ X 5″ baking pan. Now let’s make the sauce.

Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 c. tomato ketchup

1 1/2 Tbls. Indonesian Soy Sauce

1 Tbls. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. pepper

Sambal Oelek if you are daring!

Mix together the above sauce ingredients and brush over the meatloaf. Place in oven uncovered and cook about an hour, reaching an internal temperature of 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove meatloaf from your oven and let it rest for about 10 – 12 minutes before you serve it. The meatloaf will continue to cook for a few more minutes after leaving the oven . It is important to let rest because it will slice easier and the juices will stay in the meat. Drizzle some Indonesian Soy Sauce over the meatloaf. Slice and serve. Got leftovers? See below…

Sandwich ingredients:

Sliced meatloaf (chilled)

fresh sliced tomato

lettuce leaf or two

clover sprouts

leftover meatloaf sauce

2 slices whole wheat bread

If you can make a sandwich, you can make these. Assemble the sandwich with the above ingredients and slice in half. Put a pick in each sandwich half to help hold it together. Serve with bread and butter pickles.

Pangsit Goreng or Indonesian Wontons are one of my favorite Indonesian appetizers. There are so many variations of this appetizer for some are made with chicken, shrimp, pork or beef. The recipe that I am sharing with you is a version of a recipe that has been in my family for years and is a combination of both pork and beef. I was taught to dip them in a sweet and sour sauce with sambal oeleck but I prefer to dip them in Thai sweet chili sauce. Be sure to serve these crunchy and savory little Indonesian Wontons at your next get together or dinner party. Enjoy! Tessa

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 bunch of green onions (finely chopped)

6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1/2 cup celery leaves (finely chopped)

4 eggs (beaten)

1 1/2 Tbls. ground coriander

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

6 dozen wonton wrappers

water

canola oil for frying

Let’s begin. Grab a medium sized mixing bowl and mix together the first 10 ingredients until well incorporated. Using a small scoop (1/2- 3/4 ounce) put filling in wonton wrappers. Fold and seal into what ever shape that you like. The easiest shape is the simple triangle. Put your filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper, slightly moisten the edges with water, fold once and seal. (See below for example) Fry in canola oil until golden and drain well. Serve with a hot sweet and sour sauce or sweet chili sauce. Makes about 6 dozen. Recipe can be cut in half or even doubled.

Bruce and I have been married for over seven years. I don’t think that he has decided to keep me because of my bubbly personality or my sweet smiling face. Nope, it’s neither of those reasons…. I believe that it is all about the dishes that I make such as my Strawberry Chipotle Beef Ribs. These beef ribs are oven tender and smothered in an amazing homemade Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce. My Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce is a crazy concoction of ingredients such as fresh strawberries, Dr. Pepper (yes, Dr. Pepper), Indonesian soy sauce and fiery chipotle peppers in adobo. I figure that if I continue to make these ribs, Bruce just might keep me around for the rest of his life. Make these ribs and prepare to be kept. Makes about 4 servings. Enjoy! Tessa

Ingredients:

2 large racks beef ribs (about 7 pounds)

1/4 c. Indonesian soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash, trim and cut into individual beef ribs. Toss ribs in a large bowl and drizzle on Indonesian Soy Sauce and rub with salt and pepper. On a foil lined pan (or large cookie sheet) place ribs. Cover with more foil and put in the oven. Bake for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until tender. Remove foil and brush with sauce. Turn on the broiler and broil until sauce is slightly caramelized. Turn ribs over and brush with more sauce. Broil again until caramelized. Place on serving platter.

Note: You can easily make these ribs on your outdoor barbecue. Just bake the ribs first so they are tender then you can finish them on the BBQ for a an outdoor smoky flavor!

Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

1 lb. strawberries (cleaned, hulled and quartered)

1 can Dr. Pepper

1 c. tomato ketchup

1/4 c. apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. brown sugar

3 Tbls. Indonesian Soy Sauce

2 Tbls. chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 tsp. seasoning salt

Grab a medium saucepan and toss all the ingredients in. Cook on low for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool. Makes about 2 1/2 – 3 cups sauce.

Just imagine… Little itty bitty buffalo burgers, topped with smoked gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and a spankin smoked paprika aioli. If you like avocado, toss that on top too. Did you catch that? I bet you did… So now go to the store and gather your ingredients. Make these little gems for your next backyard BBQ or serve them up while you watch your favorite sporting event. Dang! These burgers are awesome! Makes 6 itty bitty burger gems.